| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
| |
| A Vain Desire |
| | | Theodore Wratislaw (b. 1871) |
| |
| |
| DEAR, did you know how sweet to me | |
| Was every glance of yours, how sweet | |
| The laugh that lights your face with glee, | |
| The passing murmur of your feet, | |
| |
| And seeing perchance with grief how vain | 5 |
| The love that makes you sadly dear | |
| Did grant for my unuttered pain | |
| A whispered word, a smile, a tear | |
| |
| Dropped like a star from Paradise, | |
| Then might I bless my weary state, | 10 |
| Though you behold me from the skies | |
| And I on earth am desolate. | |
| |
|
|
|
